For ex-Sun reporters in Paris, terror 'hits close to home'

Several people with Lowell ties were close to the terrorist attacks in Paris, uninjured but still jarred by what happened Friday.

Linda Hervieux and Phil Serafino, both former Sun reporters, now live in the middle of the Paris neighborhood rocked by several attacks. Hervieux has been on the East Coast doing publicity for her new book, and Serafino has been reporting on the events for Bloomberg.

Serafino, an editor at large, co-wrote a story saying the second terrorist attack of the year in Paris "left residents shell-shocked and groping for answers."

The streets, he wrote, "were eerily quiet following attacks that left at least 127 dead in near-simultaneous assaults on cafes, a soccer match and a concert hall.

For tourists and inhabitants, the after-effects rippled through the city. Department stores and cinemas were shut along with Disneyland Paris, while landmarks such as the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe turned away tourists."

Serafino couldn't be reached for comment Saturday. Hervieux, an author and freelance writer, said the couple lives down the street from one restaurant attacked and is a few minutes away from another. Serafino had friends from Massachusetts visiting, and the group had left a restaurant soon before the attacks and were walking home when everything took place.

If they were half an hour later, they would have been in the middle of what turned into a war zone.

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In following the news, Hervieux came across a photo in which she could see her husband inside a storefront window. A friend told Hervieux she hid under the body of a man who was shot in the head in one of the attacks.

"It hits close to home," said Hervieux, who is touring for her book "Forgotten," which tells of black heroes of World War II.

Also living in Paris is the family of Roger Pin of Lowell. His wife, Soben Pin, the managing partner for KhmerPostUSA, a news publication for Cambodian-Americans, said he had just flown into Paris earlier in the day to visit them.

Pin said she's praying for his safe return, and talked about her love for the city.

"For decades, those who ever have had traveled to Paris understand the spirits 'Paris with love' and 'I love Paris,' the city that hosts the world visitors by one to two million people per month," she wrote.

"I've never been to a more civilized, beautiful, and courteous place than Paris -- and for this terrorist attacks to happen to Paris -- I feel very insulting, personal, and unbearable pain. With having family members being there -- I couldn't bear reading any news yesterday, couldn't see anything, understand anything I was trying to read but was weeping."

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